eqtexsvg: use free software only

[Norbert Nemec]

eqtexsvg is currently based on pstoedit, whose svg-exporter is not free. This patch replaces this by
pdf2svg (http://www.cityinthesky.co.uk/pdf2svg.html, packed e.g. in ubuntu)

[Norbert Nemec (nnemec)]

Another try to actually attach the patch...

[Adhémar (cafedelmaere)]

This bug is still present in 0.47pre0 r21549. The patch above described solves the problem.

[Julian Gilbey (jdg)]

There seems to be a problem with this patch. If I try to add an "x" and then a "y" using this patch, the "y" comes out as an "x". This seems to be because pdf2svg creates xml elements of the form
<symbol overflow="visible" id="glyph0-0">
But then when the next pdf file is converted, it also has identical entries, which are then ignored in favour of the already existing ones in the master svg file.
I don't see an obvious way to fix this bug, except by locating all glyph%d ids in the master svg file, and then renumbering those in the svg generated by pdf2svg before merging it in.

:-(

Julian

[Norbert Nemec (nnemec)]

To me, this sounds linke a bug in SVG import. New symbols with different
content should be mapped to new, unique IDs, avoiding conflicts with
existing content.
On 29 Sep 2014 00:46, "Julian Gilbey" <email address hidden> wrote:

> There seems to be a problem with this patch. If I try to add an "x" and
> then a "y" using this patch, the "y" comes out as an "x". This seems to be
> because pdf2svg creates xml elements of the form
> <symbol overflow="visible" id="glyph0-0">
> But then when the next pdf file is converted, it also has identical
> entries, which are then ignored in favour of the already existing ones in
> the master svg file.
> I don't see an obvious way to fix this bug, except by locating all glyph%d
> ids in the master svg file, and then renumbering those in the svg generated
> by pdf2svg before merging it in.
>
> :-(
>
> Julian
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/367446
>
> Title:
> eqtexsvg: use free software only
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/367446/+subscriptions
>

[Julian Gilbey (jdg)]

Yes, Norbert, it seems you are indeed correct. I can see a uniqueId function in inkex.py, but it's not clear to me how to use it when importing the generated svg file, and how to ensure that the internal references are also appropriately converted - I don't know enough about how xml.minidom etc. work. For example, an svg file I've just generated by pdf2svg contains:

...
<symbol overflow="visible" id="glyph0-1">
<path .../>
...
<g style="fill:rgb(0%,0%,0%);fill-opacity:1;">
  <use xlink:href="#glyph0-1" x="148.712" y="134.765"/>
</g>
...

so the new id in the <symbol> element would have to be replicated in the <use> element.

Any help would be appreciated, as pdf2svg seems much "cleaner" than pstoedit.

[Alexander (aralni)]

> is not free

Why it isn't free? From where this information?

Free (after check of lawyers) repository of Debian contain signed pstoedit.

At address http://www.cityinthesky.co.uk/pdf2svg.html error 404.

[Norbert Nemec (nnemec)]

See the official web-site of pstoedit: http://www.pstoedit.net/
SVG export is available only as shareware plugin.

[Norbert Nemec (nnemec)]

As a simple google search reveals, the pdf2svg page has moved to
http://www.cityinthesky.co.uk/opensource/pdf2svg/

[Alexander (aralni)]

Ooooooooooooo...

eqtexsvg DO NOT USE SHAREWARE PLUGIN FROM http://www.pstoedit.net/

BUT CALLING:

pstoedit -f plot-svg

"svg via GNU libplot"

THIS CALL USE GNU LIBPLOT FOR SVG OUTPUT !!!

[Norbert Nemec (nnemec)]

Indeed. Based on the online docs it does indeed seem like this feature never required the non-free plugin. No idea why I stumbled over this at all -- six years ago.

So, as it seems, this is a non-issue after all. It could be interesting comparing the quality of the output of the two different tools, but that would definitely be another issue. Feel free to close this one.

[Alexander (aralni)]

I get from sourceforge old Inkscape sources: version 0.46 from 2008 year. Seven years old.

In eqtexsvg.py :

pstoedit -f plot-svg

I not have any ideas about: where, when and what way eqtexsvg.py drop user freedoms. Links and description needed.

May be any count of ways of translation LaTeX to Inkscape drawing, but at what here "is not free" ?

[Norbert Nemec (nnemec)]

I'm closing the issue. It seems it was a misunderstanding.